Petter Solberg heads to Sweden for the next round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship looking for some “home” advantage.
Although Solberg is Norwegian, the Petter Solberg RX Team is based in Sweden, and the 2003 World Rally Champion’s wife and family are all from Sweden, so the team are expecting some of the loudest support they’ve had all season.
The rallycross course at Holjes also uses part of the Rally Sweden route, a rally that Solberg is very familiar with, having won it in the past.
“The team has been working very hard since the round in Hell and I’m very grateful to all them,” said Solberg. “They’ve been concentrating on making the car much stronger and have done a lot of work on front-end geometry. We did a half-day test today to check differentials, dampers and that I’m happy with the weight. The car is now better prepared for bigger impacts but I still need to be careful, as rallycross is very close contact. We will be fighting all the time but everything is still so new so I have had to accept that a win wasn’t going to happen straightaway. I think it will be a close fight this weekend. We’re taking 400 guests and sponsors so the pressure is on once again for me to be at the top.”
Holjes is close to the Swedish border with Norway, and each year attracts 25,000 spectators, all of whom will be in fine voice across the entire weekend. Also showcasing the high-level potential of rallycross, the Holjes event will feature guest drives from Junior World Rally Champion Patrik Sandell and former DTM title-winner Mattias Ekstrom.
